


'Friendly' Favor

by uswnttrash



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-04-19 07:45:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4738286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uswnttrash/pseuds/uswnttrash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"you need a plus-one for your brother’s wedding so i’m going as a favor but there’s been a misunderstanding and now your whole family thinks we’re engaged"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The wedding was perfect. Every single detail down to the smallest one was what Alex would have loved for her own wedding if that moment ever happened. She could see how happy Jerry and his new wife were. She could see how happy the new in-laws were. It was a night filled with smiles, laughs, great food and endless drinks. 

Going into this she thought that Kelley had explained to everyone that she was coming as a favor because Kelley didn’t want to bring some guy she had to basically babysit all night. She wanted to bring someone she trusted and knew she was going to have fun with. The choice of who was obvious and the last thing she thought about was that it might cause her family to question some things. It wasn’t until a high school friend of Kelley’s came up to Alex and said that they were a cute couple that she realized that Kelley’s family wasn’t overly involving her in things and being nice to her because of the alcohol and the joy of the moment. They were doing so because they thought they were together.

Alex was coming out of the bathroom when she ran into one of Kelley’s cousins. That was when she became aware of the fact that the whole family had been talking about the two, specifically when they had been dancing and just laughing with each other throughout the night.

“You know, after Kelley’s last boyfriend, everyone’s been super protective of her when it comes to dating again but we all love you and we know you won’t hurt her…” Kelley’s cousin spoke a little more and Alex was just so shocked at what she was hearing that she didn’t even register what else she had said.

She excused herself after a moment or two and immediately went over to the bar to get herself another drink. She wasn’t too sure where Kelley was and right now that was probably a good thing. She kept her right hand on her glass as she leaned against the bar and within a few moments of standing there, she heard a slight gasp as Kelley’s sister reached for Alex’s hand.

“I figured all the talk was true but not to this extent. Did Kelley ask? You know you two can’t go out there when Kristen throws the bouquet. That won’t be fair to all those desperate and single girls out there….” Erin kept talking and for the third time that night, Alex was felt completely shocked as she didn’t know what to do with herself.

As soon as Erin left, she downed her drink and then sought out Kelley. She found her playing with some of her younger cousins. Kelley always got along with children and it was something that a lot of the girls on the team admired about her.

“Kelley…..” She said a little out of breath. This caused Kelley to smile up at her before she pulled one of her cousins in and whispered something in her ear.

The little girl shyly walked over to Alex and tugged her hand, silently asking her to come down so she could say something to her and Alex did so. “New people to the game have to be it. It’s the rules…” She looked over at Kelley who was smiling widely and nodded in encouragement. “So you’re it, baby horse.” This caused Kelley to bust out laughing and for the first time that night, Alex completely forgot about everything except Kelley and the kids around them.

She played with the group for a few minutes before some of the kids scattered when they heard the announcement that dessert would be served soon. Kelley and Alex sat down at the closest table.

“Where have you been hiding? I feel like this is the first time I’ve seen you since before dinner…” Kelley stayed close to Alex so that she could hear her over the music that was playing.

Suddenly, Alex remembered the situation they were in and after telling Kelley that she needed to talk to her, the two got up and headed outside where no one was around.

“Everything okay, Al? If you need to go or something, go. You’ve already helped me out more than you needed to….”

“Your whole family thinks we’re engaged.” Alex cut her off so quickly that Kelley couldn’t even react properly. She just laughed out of shock. “This isn’t funny, Kelley. All night they’ve been coming up to me saying how we’re a cute couple and that they don’t need to be protective anymore because I’d never hurt you. And your sister…she seemed so happy when she saw the ring on my finger. And the whole time I was freaking out because we’re not engaged and I couldn’t tell her that. I couldn’t do anything because I’ve never thought about you like that and I can’t think about you like that…”

Alex’s rant not only sobered Kelley up a little but it also dulled the shock of the situation. “Why not?” She said quietly.

“Why not what?”

“Why can’t you think about me like that?” Kelley said quietly and she wasn’t even sure Alex could hear her. She just knew that she needed to immediately direct the conversation somewhere else. “I mean it’s not a big deal. They are all drunk. We’ll just tell them the truth tomorrow. There’s no reason to freak out…”

Alex couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Kelley actually seemed disappointed by everything and maybe Alex missed out on something. Maybe Kelley lead her family to believe that they were together or something. When Kelley turned to walk back inside, Alex instinctually reached out for her hand. “Kel, please don’t. Talk to me, okay? Is there something I don’t know?”

Kelley didn’t speak up at first because she focus was on their hands. “I didn’t tell them anything if that’s what you’re thinking.” She said finally as she looked up at her. “They just….most of them know that I have these feelings….for you. That’s all. It’s nothing. Just a friend crush or something so they blew it out of proportion and if you do, too, than we’re going to miss the cake so can we please, please go back inside?”

Alex gave in but Kelley’s words didn’t leave her mind. In fact, they only got louder when she saw Kelley interact with her young cousins again or her grandmother or when she did something as simple as laugh near her. The more she thought about Kelley’s words, the less she panicked at the end of the night when the O'Hara’s stated how they couldn’t wait until their wedding and that they knew it would top this one.

Of course, she and Kelley had a lot to discuss and she herself had a lot to figure out. But she began to realize that even though this started out with her doing Kelley a favor that it was Kelley would ended up doing her the biggest favor of all.


	2. Chapter 2

\-------------  
Time wasn't exactly in Kelley or Alex's favor after the wedding. It was probably a good thing to some extent since Alex didn't have to deal with the aftermath of what the O'Hara's thought. But on the flip side, she was left with her thoughts and the more time she was away from Kelley, the more she missed her in a completely different way than she would have weeks ago. 

They were reunited when the team came together again for some training in Virginia. Most of the training were sessions based on positions so Alex didn't see Kelley all that much. Once all of that was done, the team prepared to play an exhibition game against the University of Virginia's team as a send off before qualifiers. It was also a good bit of publicity for a program that was turning a lot of heads recently. 

They were in the hotel lobby waiting to leave for the stadium when Alex saw Kelley. Now she had obviously had some interactions with her beforehand but this was different. Kelley's parents and a few other family members had made the trip and suddenly, Alex was nervous because she and Kelley hadn't spoken about what happened at the wedding. 

"Alex…." Tobin snapped her fingers in front of Alex's face a few times and when that didn't work, she pinched her arm gently which worked in getting her attention like it always did. 

"I'm sorry. I um…." Alex shook her head as if to try to rid her head of her thoughts. "Sorry."

Tobin knew what had gone on at the wedding so when her eyes shifted over to where Alex was looking, she wasn't really surprised by the distraction. "You guys have been cool since, right? She said it herself that her family was drunk that night so it's not like they'd still believe it after all these weeks."

She had a point. It would have looked suspicious that Alex wasn't involved in any family related things right after the wedding and that there wasn't any major announcement of their news. Kelley had to have explained it to them. Everything had to been set straight. 

"I just feel bad. They looked so happy for us…."

"Hey, you're thinking too much. Of course, they'd be happy but it's probably a big joke now. They'll probably just laugh about it with you and…" Something clicked in Tobin's head and she leaned closer to Alex. "You sound disappointed. Why did you just sound disappointed?"

"I'm not….disappointed. I just feel bad." She repeated before taking in a deep breath. "If you saw the look on her sister's face, you'd feel bad too knowing that all that excitement was for nothing. And then Kelley…." Her eyes drifted off to Kelley who was talking to her family with Christen. "I've never even thought about her like that before all of this so I can't be disappointed."

"Before all of this. Does that mean you've thought about her like that since?"

Alex opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by Dawn yelling for the team to gather up. The few family members of a few of the players took that as their cue to head out towards the stadium to get settled for the game. 

Within a few moments, they were all on the bus with Alex sitting next to Tobin as usual. This time was their time to focus so Tobin knew not to bring up the previous conversation but that didn't mean Alex was off the hook. 

\-------------

The game went pretty smoothly with the National Team leading 4-0 but that all took a slight turn in the 64th minute. After going for the ball, Alex took a pretty hard fall and stayed down for a little while after the fall which lead everyone in the stadium to hold their breaths. 

Kelley was the first one over to her and she immediately bent down and placed a hand on her leg. "Hey, hey." She said softly and Alex grabbed the hand that was on her leg and squeezed it gently. "It's not your knee again, is it?"

Alex shook her head to the question. Her back took the brunt of the fall and she was fine other than the fact that she needed to catch her breath. She found that much easier to do with Kelley holding her hand.

At this point, Tobin, Carli, Christen and a few others were lingering and the medical staff were jogging onto the pitch. 

"I'm fine." She sat up slowly and waved off the staff who she knew would check on her anyways. "It was just a hard fall. I'm seriously fine." At this point, Kelley had helped her up and it was clear to her teammates that she was going to take care of Alex while the staff worked to do the same. 

After getting the okay and stretching out a little bit, the game went back to normal. Alex ended up being subbed out though around the 75th minute mark since it was clear they were going to win and they didn't need to risk an injury. 

When the game was over, everyone hung around to meet some fans. After signing some autographs, Kelley's focus went to her family who planned to only stay for a little while since they had planned to be back in Georgia later that night. With a team meeting and time in the locker room coming up, there was no guarantees that Kelley would make it back in time to the hotel to see them.

The conversation mainly stayed on the topic of the game but Kelley's mother's focus was on the scene behind her daughter. Alex had been lingering and it wasn't until Tobin approached her that her focus swayed away from the O'Hara's. A few moments passed before Kelley hugged her family and her mother stayed back to make sure that she was last.

"You may not be engaged but all of us would be just as happy if you two were something that could lead to that...." She said in Kelley's ear and she couldn't help but let out a laugh when she felt her tense up a little. With that, her mother pulled away with a knowing smile and left Kelley to think about things.

\-------------

They once again found themselves back at the hotel and some of the girls decided to organize a night out. Kelley was rooming with Christen so that consisted of Christen nervously talking about Tobin while giving her honest opinion on the hundredth outfit Kelley tried on. 

"Why do you keep changing even when I say something looks really good on you?" Christen finally said, shifting the conversation completely. 

"Why do you keep rambling on and on about Tobin?" Kelley immediately countered with. "Oh wait, I know why because you have major heart eyes for her and everyone in the whole damn world can see it.."

Christen opened her mouth to deny it but decided against it. Sure she had a thing for Tobin but she'd never volunteer that information and she'd only ever admit it if someone pointed it out. "Two can play at that game, Kelley. I know the answer to my question already but I just wanted to hear you admit it.." Kelley looked confused which is what made Christen elaborate. "You, my friend, have as you say major heart eyes for Alex. Just ask her out already." 

"You can't tell me something like that when you won't take your own advice. Besides..." She let out a deep sigh. "You didn't see how freaked out she was that night. I get that people thinking we were engaged was crazy but it was almost like she couldn't even imagine being with me at all period. I admitted to her that I had a crush and that was that. It's been months and nothing's happened. I know we haven't seen a lot of each other but it's like none of that ever happened to her."

"Kelley, you just said yourself that you haven't seen a lot of each other. Tonight we are all going out so that'll change now. Spend time with her. Feel it out and if nothing comes out of tonight, move on." 

Kelley knew Christen was right and that's why she was so hellbent on finding the perfect outfit for tonight. She finally settled on something that she knew would turn a few heads. She waited for Christen to finish up and just before they were about to leave, she grabbed Christen's arm. "Take your own advice tonight, okay?" Christen just nodded kind of hesitantly at first but there was a sudden confidence building within her and with that, they left. 

\-------------

The gals had all managed to get pretty drunk within the first hour of being out. They had found a pretty nice bar where they were able to stay low key. 

Kelley hadn't worked up the courage to go over to Alex just yet. Alex had been busy with Sydney and Ashlyn and Tobin until Christen worked up the nerve to finally go over to the midfielder. This caused Kelley to smile like an idiot in that direction which Hope, Carli, JJ, HAO and a few others around had just chalked up to her smiling at Alex. Her teammates knew about the engagement story and took every opportunity they had to tease both Kelley and Alex over it. It died down within a few weeks but it definitely didn't go unnoticed how each of the girls responded to the thought of being with the other. 

As it became clearer that Alex's company was getting drunker, Kelley decided this was as best a time as ever to walk over to her. The closer she got, the more nervous she did but after seeing Alex smile at her, those nerves died down. 

"Hey." Kelley said as she stood alongside her and leaned against the counter behind them.

"Hey." Alex said back a little quieter than in her usual voice. "You're uh....you're family went home, huh?"

Kelley was a bit surprised at Alex's choice of conversation topic but nodded nonetheless. "Uh yeah, they wanted to get back home sooner rather than later since Erin had something to do tomorrow I think." 

"Oh." Alex trailed off for a moment or two as she thought over how to word what she was about to say next. “I feel bad that I didn’t get to see them much…”

“You don’t have to feel bad. You’ve been crazy busy and besides, you didn’t have to go out of your way…”

“It wouldn’t have been out of my way.” Alex cut her off quickly and mumbled an apology before she let Kelley continue. 

“Like I said, you don’t have to feel bad. They get it..” She reached over and gave Alex’s arm a gentle squeeze. 

A somewhat awkward silence overcame them but thankfully, both of their attentions shifted as they saw Tobin and Christen in their own little world. 

This caused Kelley to let out a laugh. “So she took her own advice.” She let out, not realizing that it would be loud enough for Alex to hear. She expected the questioning look that came her way. “Oh uh…we were talking earlier and she mentioned some things about heart eyes and Tobin and going for it so it seems like it’s coming together for her.”

Alex’s eyes glanced over at the two for a moment before she looked back at Kelley. "I'm happy for them. Tobin...." She started, knowing that Tobin would kill her for this but she didn't care. "She talks about Christen all the time. It's actually really cute..."

The smile on Kelley's face grew as her focus stayed on her two close friends. A silence overcame she and Alex after that and it was broken when Kelley turned back to face her. "Do you want to dance?" Maybe it was time to take Christen's advice, too. 

Alex was taken aback but she could see some of the other girls dancing drunkenly on a makeshift dance floor in the corner of the bar. She just simply nodded and placed her drink down before Kelley grabbed her hand and lead her over to the group. 

The time over there consisted mainly of the drunk group of women gawking at Crystal's dance skills and making noises at Christen and Tobin. The more time that went by, the drunker everyone was getting including Alex and Kelley. 

Kelley was just about to take a break because she was about two seconds away from pulling Alex into her and she blamed the alcohol on that completely. When she went to walk away, Alex grabbed her arm. “I um…” She started and it was just barely audible over the music. “You’re one of my best friends, Kelley.” 

The confusion was apparent on Kelley’s face. It was strange how it sounded as though she was about to get dumped or something. 

Alex saw the confusion and immediately pulled Kelley away from the rest of the girls. “I’m sorry. You probably think I’m crazy for just blurting that out..”

“No, I don’t. I just think that you’re drunk and whatever you’re about to say can wait until you aren’t anymore so you don’t regret something.”

Alex shook her head firmly at this. “I’m not drunk, Kelley.” It wasn’t a complete lie. She was closer to being sober than she was being blackout drunk. “And I have to say this because things have been off with us and I know we haven’t seen a lot of each other since the wedding but you can’t tell me you don’t sense this…” She pointed in between them. 

Kelley’s focus shifted downwards because she realized this had been the first time the wedding had been mentioned in months. “Alex, I’m sorry. I told you though that everything was cleared up. Everything’s fine. If you still feel weird or something, just tell me and I’ll back off and give you space.” She spoke with such a genuineness that Alex couldn’t stop herself from stepping closer and placing a hand on her arm. 

“Kelley, I don’t feel weird. I feel….” She tried to think of the right words but noting seemed to be coming. 

Kelley could see that Alex was at a loss so she took a chance. “Tell me if this helps clear things up.” She said right before leaning forward to kiss her. 

Alex didn’t respond right away but a moment or two later, she kissed back and wrapped an arm around Kelley’s waist to pull her in closer. When they parted, they stayed close and Alex opened her eyes slowly. “Things are the clearest they’ve ever been.” Kelley smiled wide at her. “I just….before when I said you were my best friend, I said that because that’s all I thought I could think of you as. God, this isn’t coming out right.”

Kelley laughed as she leaned closer once more to kiss her. “I think I understand.” She went through a crisis when she realized she had a crush on Alex way back when. She had been in denial for so long because all she thought she could have Alex as was a friend. This took her back to the night of the wedding because Kelley knew she was unfair to call Alex out about why she never thought of her as more than a friend. It wasn’t an easy thing to come to. “We have a lot to talk about, Al.” 

“We do.” She said quietly as she felt herself getting a little nervous. 

“Hey, it’s not a bad thing. We’ll enjoy tonight and talk everything through tomorrow, okay?” Alex nodded at this causing Kelley to smile. “Now come on..”

Kelley started to pull Alex forward but was stopped and immediately pulled into a kiss. It lasted longer than their other two and it drew the attention of the rest of the girls. Pinoe, Heather and Kling being the most obnoxious ones of the bunch. 

Neither girl let it get to them though. They knew the group was drunk and probably wouldn’t even remember this the next day. There were two though that would remember and that was Tobin and Christen. Tobin didn’t hesitate to tease Alex about not having to feel bad anymore and Christen teased Kelley about having major heart eyes. 

There were things that needed to be cleared up as always but for tonight, it was just them and the promise of a future that they never knew was possible.


End file.
